Elizabeth Craven and Her Sex Scandals
Whatever sort of teapot you have, you probably haven't got one like this. It is remarkable, indeed unique, and was sold by auction at Bonhams in London for £18,000 in 2009, as a curiosity. It is a comical and indecent depiction of Elizabeth Craven, the writer, which conveys unmistakably that people had got the impression she was a very sexy lady. The wording on the sash "Lady Craveing's Teapot" is a lewd pun and it adds a quotation from a prologue Elizabeth Craven wrote for a play "The Sleep Walker", which she translated in 1778. Another wipes his brow in mighty fuss And like a teapot stands, exactly - thus! Elizabeth herself had performed the prologue, dressed in man's clothes and adopted the attitude of a tea-pot, standing with one arm extended and the other hand on her hip. As for the teapot association, she was rather fond of giving tea-parties, then a novelty, at her little hideaway Craven Cottage on the Thames, which has ...